The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-04-01

well, men, nothing is ever as bad
as it looks at first sight. The storm
can't last the day out, and you may be
sure the ship will not lower for another
whale until she overhauls Us. We've
got bread and meat. and we'll try fora
fire.
He was the first man out of the cave.
/ expect we'd all been preparing our
selves to find the boat smashed to splin-
tiers or gone entirely, for when Mr..
Wharton called that she was all right,
a great load was lifted from our minds.
To get 4 fire we must have wood, and
to get wood, as was soon realized, we
must sacrifice some portion of the boat.
The door to the locker in the stern
sheets was unhinged, and a couple of
the men fell to and made shavings and
kindlings of it. Then some of the en-
trails and fat were cut up into small
pieces and we started fire at the door
of our cave. AS soon rs the kindlings
were alight we put on pieces of fat, and
there was cheer all around as the
fire began to blaze up and throw out
its warmth. Then we fell to, each man
for himself, and cut off as much meat as
we wanted, and held it over the blaze
on splinters. Despite the poor roasting
and the absence of salt we made q
hearty meal, and the fire was soon
after smothered out. In clear weather
it would have sent out a smoke to be
seen twenty miles from the crow snest
of a whaler, but with that thick atmOs-
phere shutting us in it was simply burn
ing up precious fuel for nothing.
Although it had been showing for so
many hours, and showing in a way to
have made drifts ten feet high on land,
very little of it had remained on the
berg, owing, of course, to the high
winds blowing over it. The mate
gave MS leave to scatter for look
around, though warning us against
taking any chances, and presently l
found myself in his company as we
walked part way along the length of
the shelf and came to "a spot upon
which we could climb with
promise of a view to windward. Up
we went, making our feet sure at every
step. and the bowling of the gale all
the time seeming nearer, and by and
by we looked out between two PIN
nacles and had a square look into the
face of the storm. We were not yet at
the top of the berg, by any means, but
had struck a sort of rift in the center of
it and about forty feet above the sea. A
more forbidding sight never looked
upon. The sea was in a perfect tur-
MOL, fiinging spray almost as high as
our faces, and two other bergs, each
| seemingly as large as our own, We're in
sight through the haze. One was on
what might be called our starboard
! bow, and the other on the starboard
| quarter, and the three of us were driv-
| ing off to the west under the influence
of the waves and the gale. Above our
heads, around the icy pinnacles and
! steeples, the wind shrieked and
! screamed and whistled in a way to
make ones hair stand up on end.
Nelson, " said the mate, as we clam
bered part way down and stopped to
rest, ''what do you think of our
! chances?''
''Well, sir, it's a bad fix. We can't
look for any change under three days,
at the least. / know the ship will look
| for us, but the pack ice may drift down
! too heavy for her, or we may be too
widely separated. However, we have
the chance of being sighted by another
whaler.'
That's all true" he said, in a
! gloomy voice, land we must keep up
our spirits. The most l fear just now
is another collision
! We scrambled down to the shelf and
thence along to the cave, where we
found the other three. They had also
obtained look to windward, and every
face was gloomy enough We had
been worn out aboard the whaler for
want of sleep, and after little we all
began to doze, and then fell off into
slumber, and it was after noon by the
mates watch before we were aroused.
Then it was by another grinding and
crunching, and by feeling the wind
shrieking about us, and we turned out
to find that our berg was swinging
around to the gale, while it was al
the same time forcing its way through
heavy pack ice. In half an hour more
our cave faced to windward, and the
grinding was something positively aw.
full. We were all set in a trcmble Al
! the way the berg quivered and SHOOK
and threatened to go to pieces, anC
while Williams, who was the yOunges
of all, fell to crying like woman, some
of the others called upon God to save
us. The berg kept swinging, and 10y
two o'clock we were again on the lee
side, and now we could look RICH
down on the tremendous struggle be
; tween our berg and the heavy ice which
, covered the sea for miles around us
The berg was driving faster than the
, ice; and nothing could check its pro
gresS. As it pushed steadily through
the pack the grinding was as if thun
derbolts were ripping through a forest
/ We did not swing but that once
though the gale did not break unit
, midnight
just before dark we lighted our fir,
: again and cooked some more meat
[ and that night we all slept soundly
The next day dawned bright and clear
with the wind blowing from the south
? and before noon the ice most exposed
/ to the sun was thawing. We had ;
5 clear sky and could see for miles
/ around us, and a grand sight it was
The pack ice had mostly gone of
. to the west, but there were a score 0
: big and little bergs in view. We KEEP
t the breakfast fire going all day as
? beacon fire, smOthering it down occa
sionally to make a black smoke, anC
5 we rambled about a good deal over thu
berg. We started up three white foxes
, but as we dared not use the musket
for fear tha- the cOncussion Nigh